Use these printable random acts of kindness cards to come up with ideas for the entire family to do on Random Acts of Kindness Day or all year long! With plenty of ideas for simple acts or kind gestures, there are more than enough ideas to help you spread kindness.
One of my goals for my kids is to teach them to be more kind and to do things for others whether it’s strangers, people they know or love, or even people they maybe don’t love quite as much.
This year we’re celebrating National Random Acts of Kindness Day (February 17th) by doing a bunch of random acts of kindness for people.
And I’ve created a list of ideas that you can use too, plus printable random acts of kindness cards that you can use with your own family.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to use these only on Random Acts of Kindness Day, these are great for doing kind things during Thanksgiving (it makes one of the best gratitude activities), during the Christmas season, or really all year long!
You could pick one thing to do each week – just do what works best for you and go for it!
The best part is that random acts of kindness are super accessible to everyone. Even the little things make a huge difference, so you can do something as simple as holding a door or saying kind words. I made a whole list of possibilities to get you started on some ideas.
And if you don’t want to celebrate Random Acts of Kindness Day, you can still do kind things all year long! I’ll be the first one to tell you that doing something for someone else is a great way to make yourself feel better too, all while making the world a better place!
Random Acts of kindness ideas
There are endless ways to be kind and kindness can look different for everyone, but I wanted to make a list of kind acts to get you started. I tried to put together some ideas that maybe you haven’t thought of before as well as ones you likely have.
I tried to keep them as general as possible so you can adjust them as you want. For example, if it says to write a nice note to your best friend you can easily write it to a neighbor or teacher.
Doing this list as a family is a simple way to teach kids about the importance of a kind gesture. With that in mind, I tried to make them all family-friendly and all fairly small things you can use them at home or in a school setting.
Some of these things require physical items, some require minimal money, and some just require time. The only thing they all require is kindness.
- Donate extra food to a food bank
- Give someone flowers
- Give someone a compliment
- Donate a book to your local library
- Give a homeless person a meal
- Donate a book to the pediatrician’s waiting room
- Give a teacher a gift (with one of these teacher gift tags)
- Offer to walk a neighbor’s or friend’s dog
- Say thank you to the grocery store bagger or trash-man
- Hold the door open for someone you don’t know
- Rake someone’s leaves or shovel their driveway
- Let someone go first
- Call a friend or loved one out of the blue
- Bring someone a treat. I recommend these snickerdoodles or these cookie Oreo brownie bars.
- Clean the house
- Give someone a thank you card
- Paint someone a picture
- Give someone a hug
- Read a book to a younger sibling
- Visit an animal shelter
- Donate old blankets or towels to an animal shelter
- Make kindness rocks and scatter them throughout the neighborhood
- Donate old toys
- Go to the fire or police department to say thank you with a yummy treat. This chocolate chip cookie pie is always a hit!
- Give someone a “just because” card to let them know you care
- Adopt an elderly person at a residential facility to visit regularly
- Draw encouraging messages in chalk around your neighborhood
- Clean without being asked
- Pick up trash at a park or around the neighborhood
- Make a care package. If you need ideas, this college care package post has lots!
- Offer to pick up groceries for a friend or neighbor
- Pack extra snacks for the playground to share with friends
- Write a thank you note to the mail carrier
- Donate items to a homeless shelter
- Make and send care packages to soldiers overseas
- Make a get-well card for someone
- Make dinner for a new or lonely neighbor. This homemade taco meat with taco fixings is always a hit!
- Donate last year’s winter gear to a child in need
- Buy the meal for the person behind you at the drive-thru
- Invite a friend or co-worker who doesn’t have family local over for dinner
- Carry groceries for someone who has their hands full
- Pack lunches for the homeless and hand them out
- Set up a free hot chocolate stand on a cold day. This homemade hot chocolate is perfect for a crowd!
- Bring soup to a sick friend. Homemade chicken noodle soup is always appreciated!
- Send a photo collage to a friend or relative far away
- Tip your server extra
- Bring a bottle of water or a warm drink to the school cross guard. I know ours love this spiced apple cider!
- Leave encouraging sticky notes around town
- Send thank you note to community worker
- Take a friend to the movies
- Donate diapers to a women’s shelter
- Zoom with a grandparent
- Donate holiday decorations to a shelter
- Bring treats to a soccer game- without being asked
- Buy school supplies for a child in need
- Donate gently used toys to a women’s shelter
- Offer to bring dinner for a family with a new baby. Make it something easy that can feed them for a day or two like this baked ziti.
- Have a yard sale and donate the proceeds
- Play board games with the elderly at a residential facility
- Host a neighborhood cookout
- Fill someone’s expired parking meter
- Give your seat to someone else
- Buy extra groceries to donate. Make it even more fun by doing this supermarket sweep game!
- Plant a tree
- Share your lunch
- Return someone else’s shopping cart
- Give new crayons to the children’s hospital
- Donate toothbrushes to a local daycare or shelter
- Watch a friend’s or relative’s kids so they can go out
- Help fold laundry
- Send a gift card to a young family
- Leave small businesses a positive review
- Like your friend’s posts on social media
- Write a positive little card for a family member
- Leave money on a vending machine
- Write an appreciation email for a staff member
- Fill a friend’s locker with a fun surprise like this out of the blue gift or one of these orange gift ideas.
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen
- Write a thank you note to an old teacher
- Recycle old grocery bags
Free Printable Random Acts of Kindness Cards
I even made a cute printable to go along with the list above. I made the list into free kindness cards that can get put into a bucket or jar (kind of like this boredom busters jar). Grab one a day or try to complete the whole jar as a family during kindness week.
You can get the free download at the bottom of this post.
Random Acts of kindness just for kids
While some of the things on the list above kids can do by themselves, I wanted to make sure that there was a list specifically for kids. This is great if you want to do a kid’s jar or want to put them into school.
Here’s a good place to start on a kid’s act of kindness list.
- Smile at a stranger
- Eat lunch with someone new
- Offer to help someone with homework
- Play with a sibling
- Pick up toys
- Hold the door open for a stranger
- Ask someone how they are doing
- Help someone practice a sport
- Write a card to an older relative
- Help cook dinner
- Clean your room
- Facetime a friend
- Like a friend’s post
- Follow different people in your grade
- Help a teacher clean up
- Donate old toys to younger siblings or friends
- Put away your clothes
- Buy mom flowers or draw her a picture
- Say thank you to your teachers
- Say hi to someone new at school
Random Acts of Kindness That Do Not Cost Money
If you’re looking for random acts of kindness that don’t cost money, just remember they don’t have to be huge acts to still make someone’s day!
Here are some of our favorite ideas:
- Give someone a compliment
- Offer to walk a neighbor’s or friend’s dog
- Say thank you to the grocery store bagger or trash-man
- Hold the door open for someone you don’t know
- Rake someone’s leaves or shovel their driveway
- Give someone a thank you card
- Adopt an elderly person at a residential facility to visit regularly
- Pick up trash at a park or around the neighborhood
- Write a thank you note to the mail carrier
- Carry groceries for someone who has their hands full
- Give your seat to someone else
- Return someone else’s shopping cart
- Watch someone’s children so they can go out
- Leave small businesses a positive review
- Like your friend’s posts on social media
- Write an appreciation email for a staff member
- Write a thank you note to an old teacher
- Recycle old grocery bags
- Make a get-well card for someone
- Draw or paint someone a picture
How to Make Your Random Acts of Kindness List
Best part about these lists is that they are just suggestions, or a starting point. You can add to or take away any of them to make it perfect for your situation. I’ve given 80+ ideas to get you started.
You know your situation better than I do, so while my list is pretty generic to cater to the masses, your list can be specific to you and your family.
So if you have teenagers maybe they can say nice things on social media or befriend someone lonely at school. Or preschoolers who can draw a picture for their teachers.
Whatever your situation is you can decide for yourself what works best!
FAQs
When is Random Acts of Kindness Day?
Random Acts of Kindness Day is February 17th every year.
What is Random Acts of Kindness Day?
It’s all right there in the name, it’s a day dedicated to doing small things for other people to make the world a better place. The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation dedicated February 17th as a day to do kind acts. That eventually grew into national random acts of kindness day which is now recognized all over the world. The initial dream of spreading joy through a random act of kindness has grown into a global movement, making the world a better place.
More Fun Family Activities
If you need more things to do as a family, check out these great family activity ideas!
- Setting family goals – a fun activity that helps you set family goals together! You could even include doing random acts of kindness as one of your goals!
- Family interview questions – fun questions to ask your immediate and extended family to get to know them better!
- Family night ideas – tons of great family night ideas including ideas from A to Z!
- Gratitude jar ideas – creating a gratitude jar is a great idea for a family night or month!
- Scripture cookies – use this fun activity to do a scripture scavenger hunt and make cookies along the way!
Get the Free Printable Cards
As I mentioned, I made a printable that has a whole sheet of good deeds that you can do as a family (or on your own). Simply print on white card stock, cut, and then use the free printables whenever you want to encourage your family to do something nice for others!
Enter your first name and email address below to get the free printable.
If you’d prefer to not provide your email address, you can get a copy in my shop here.
You’ll receive a copy to your email shortly after that includes a 5-page PDF:
- Two sheets of random acts of kindness cards with a green background (shown below)
- Two sheets of kindness cards with a pink background (shown in the images above).
- Use policy – personal use only, no commercial license
If you can’t see the form below, click here to get to the form to enter your info.
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